following sections: First, we will briefly analyze the political situation in China just before the epidemic. Next, we will address the SARS epidemic itself, the Chinese government's belated efforts to eradicate it, and the attempted political cover-up. We will then move on to the short term and long term impacts that the epidemic will have on the Chinese political system.
Just before the SARS epidemic was discovered, China was undergoing a profound political transition. In November, 2002, the Chinese government held the 16th Party Congress. In March, 2003, the National People's Congress met. These Congresses established a political transition of power, as Jiang Zemin ceded his role as premier to Wen Jiabao and as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to Hu Jintao. Zemin held on to his positions as head of the CCP and, perhaps more importantly, head of the Central Military Commissions, however. He also appointed many of his supporters to prominent positions within the CCP and the Politburo. This left many outside observers wondering whether the arrangement was set up to provide a slow and measured political transition or whether it was the result of bitter political infighting (Fewsmith 1-2).
The tenuousness of new CCP general secretary Hu Jintao's position led him to make careful efforts to crdate an image of himself as an involved and caring man of the people. In the weeks following his accession to power, Jintao placed emphasis on the "rule of law," visited the revolutionary capital of Xibaipo in order to stress the virtues of plain living, attended a conference on rural living and working, and conducted various visits during the lunar new year to peasants both in the suburbs of Beijing and as far afield as Inner Mongolia. These latter lunar New Year visits are perhaps the most indicative of the profoundness of the transition; Chinese CCP leaders are expected to visit with the ordinary people du...